PARIS: The son of Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday (May 5) demanded France’s help in seeking independently verified proof of his mother’s life after she was transferred to house arrest, her lawyers said.
The country’s chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday ordered the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner to be moved, five years after putting her into detention in a coup.
But her son, Kim Aris, says he has still not heard from his mother, who remains massively popular inside Myanmar.
“I implore France to join my call so that we may obtain independently verified proof of life, and so that her fundamental rights are guaranteed: appropriate medical care, access to her lawyers and to her family,” he wrote in a letter addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron seen by AFP.
Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Francois Zimeray, said that Aris handed the letter to France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot at a meeting on Tuesday.
“We have had no proof of life, no photos for years, not even any indication that she was actually transferred. We still don’t know where she is,” he told AFP.
The office of Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday shared an undated photograph appearing to show Suu Kyi sitting flanked by two men in uniform.
“But we don’t know if it’s real or if it’s AI,” Zimeray said.
Lawyer Catalina de la Sota, also representing Suu Kyi, added: “We cannot imagine that she is no longer alive, but why is she being kept in total secrecy, in violation of all international conventions? We are worried about her health.”
Min Aung Hlaing toppled Suu Kyi’s elected government in 2021, detaining her on a host of charges which rights groups say were confected to sideline her.
The ensuing civil war has killed thousands and displaced millions in the southeast Asian country of roughly 50 million.
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